With such emphasis on the armor this time around I'm wondering if by default our characters have the ability to use it and if it may even be required at one point or another.

I've played FO2, FO3 & FONV and spent hundreds of hours on each playing dozens of characters and never once used power armor. I never liked wasting the perks and skills and abilities needed to use it. I generally play a quick and agile character, be it a sniper or even a melee character. Light armor always, never anything with a mobility penalty.

But take the battle we see with the deathclaw ... are there really other options? Or is it by design that we have to combat it in power armor cause that's the only way we'd survive. I will wear power armor if I have to, it's just not something I've ever wanted a character to do before. And again, would this be taking away from the players freedom to play whatever they want?

You get given PA Training as a reward in FO3 and NV, you don't actually have to acquire the perk yourself via leveling up. But I do see your point, I rarely use PA myself, usually give some to followers when I have them but more often than not just e and my leather armor is enough to survive. I like playing a mixed bag sort of character, always have a well maintained Hunting Rifle and some form of unarmed weapon as well as a side arm.

It wouldn't surprise me to have a scripted event where the PA is part of it and by the look of the Deathclaw we will need it, but I will not be going mad trying to find bits to mod my own just for the sake of it. Who knows though if the PC is a Vet maybe he already has knowledge of how to use PA.

Hmm, it would svck a bit, if it was required for major portions of the game (late game), because I usally play my games a bit like you. Tho I will use the armor for "heavy combat" situations...

I wouldn't mind that it was required for certain quests, where you are up close and rather personal.

I get the impression from the footage that you DO "have" to use the power armor to fight the Deathclaw, (and the raiders before it emerges) but perhaps (likely) ONLY for that fight, and it gets so severely damaged in the fight that you have to repair it if you want to use it later on. Sort of a tutorial on power armor, if you will, just to give people a taste of what it's like, to maybe encourage them to pursue it.

i dont think it will be mandetory but i think u will get the skill to use it right away since the main cherecter is a vet im asuming that they did that so u can use it right off the bat but i hope its not mandetory i very rarley use it my self i play stealth cherecters userely

1. We don't know yet.
2. We don't know yet.
3. We don't know yet.
4. We don't know yet.

I'll never use Power Armor, either. Big, bulky, ugly stuff doesn't fit with my characters' preferences for cute, pretty things. It's not fashionable.

One other possibility (if the demo shown is forced) is that it is only part of the male's storyline at the beginning, and that a female PC will have a different event (or the same event with different approach(es)).

no not at all if anything they showed that this time around power armour will be useful instead of just fancy full plate mail with stat tweaks that was the message of the footage shown.

i have played with power armour in all my play thrus and in fo3 and NV so the following is my experience with the armour in both past fallout games from BGS and Obsidian Entertainment

1. in both games does very poor job of offering any sort meaningful damage reduction or advantage for choosing that Armour style if anything there way more downsides.

2.most expensive and rare to keep repair while really not offering perks to even it out

3 this big both games do REALLY REALLY BAD job of keeping to the lore in fallout when comes to power armour and fallout 4 is way more lore friendly

as far death claws all you need to kill them is high alpha damage weapons or slow them down buy crippling their legs and allowing your high dps low alpha gun to to bring them down armour is moot point if plan your attack correctly in past games.

as for the quest shown in trailer the player character was lvl 2 so yes was required at that point for you to be able to survive that encounter it was ingame tutorial.

Hmm. I've never used PA (as said, due to the Ugly. And the "I like stealth" thing). But I've never seen any kind of "need to get perks/skills/abilities to use PA" beyond the basic Can Wear PA one that you get via storyline.

What if you can put a smiley face on the helmet?

DEVS!? CAN WE PUT A SMILEY FACE ON A ROUNDED POWER ARMOR HELMET!?

I suddenly want this more than most things!

If the leaked casting call is still accurate you have a choice how you complete the Concord mission. The PA route was just one way.

I think that with the complete redesign of the Power Armour system that it may become something more than it's been before. I've not played Fallout pre-FO3 (heresy I know, it's on the list of games to play) so I can't comment there, but there was never really a huge incentive or reason to choose Power Armour over anything else most of the time in FO3/NV. I did it purely because the idea of Power Armour is cool in certain situations.

Naturally we don't know how integrated it will be to the game and quests, but I'd imagine if there are parts/areas of the game where the odds are really stacked against you the only believable recourse be to use Power Armour to survive. In that instance my role-play certainly wouldn't be broken even if am going for a sneaky type character in light armour.

As others have suggested that one demoed mission could simply be the introduction to Power Armour and from there you can use it as it's limitations allow; potentially great limitations near the beginning and becoming more useful towards endgame. Overall I'm glad they've at least changed it from just being better armour regardless of how the details play out; it just seems to give a better impression as to what it actually is.

There will presumably be other options; even if it's the only path for the quest, I imagine it wouldn't be impossible to kill the Deathclaw without power armor. But unlike Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, where the other options are "use armor that's almost as good, if not better in some respects", Fallout 4's equivalent options will be "don't use the man-shaped armored vehicle". I'm not saying it's unwise to avoid power armor, but it'll clearly be different from what it was in the last two Fallout games.

Hmm... I've played characters who wear Power Armour and character that don't. I can't say I really have a preference. That said though, I truly hope we are not *required* to wear it at any point.

Pffffffffff, POWER ARMOR IS LOVE, POWER ARMOR IS LIFE!!!!!!!!!

Hey,

Why are you guys so hostile against Power Armor? (For me, it's a damned dream - I would love such a suit, even without nightvision capabilities etc. (that such a suit would have, if we were able to make one, right now), just because with those damned servos you could in theory lift things way heavier than normal, you could run faster etc.

Hell, with their E3 presentation of a Power Armor with a damned Jump-Pack (not a true Jetpack, as it does not seem to sustain flight)....hell, sign me up!

greetings LAX

ps: All my characters used powered armor (when I got it - unless there was a perk required, like in Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas - it just offers superb protection and looks damned cool, too!)

Cause it's dull.

It itself is not the problem. The problem is the stagnation of character variety. We want a game where you can choose from various types of weapons and various types of armor for maximum character diversity, not just weapons and then go get your power armor.

I think they're showcasing it so much because it's actually been turned into POWER armor this time around. Like not just 2277's version of full plate. I doubt it will be required for more than a single mission, at most. Which is good. Cuz it clashes with the way I like to roll my chars.

Well, diversity is cool, but why wear an armor that is worse (even for the sake of diversity)? (well, I wouldn't do it at least)

greetings LAX

ps: With the new armor-system (mixing different set and even upgrades like those jump-jets!) it's probably not so dull anymore (not that it ever was for me...I kind of love the concept if an armored exoskeletton!)

Personally, I've never been much of a min-maxer / person who pursues The Best Stats At All Cost. So, yes, I've deliberately picked armor with worse stats before, if it looked good / fit the character better. In Fallout: New Vegas, for instance, I wore Reinforced Leather (looked just great!) as long as I possibly could... until the DT armor system made it totally impossible to keep using (enemies were just hitting too hard). Of course, using modded armor, this tends to become less of an issue - I've noticed that armor mod authors generally do one of two things: they either make their armor incredibly weak, or incredibly strong. Mostly strong.

Also, even if one is stat-focused, not every playstyle fits with PA. It's kind of hard to be a Stealth character, sneaking around & sniping people with silenced weapons, in big clunky Power Armor.

I don't min-max as such either (I don't use explosives much for example - even though I often play a cheated character (Jack of all traits - master of all!) who has the stat maxed (like all the others...) - and I wouldn't wear a pink power armor for example (even if it had the best stats))

I also change clothes and weapons according to my approach (or tactical situation)...for stealth I love the chinese stealth armor (or the stealth suit mk 2 from the big empty...I love how it talks ^^ (though more lines would have been appreciated!)) and a silenced weapon (I switch to non-silenced when discovered)

Though I admit I will wear the best thing (for the situation) if it doesn't look ugly (for example while I think that say Benny's suit looked cool, I wouldn't wear it because it does not offer any protection what so ever -.-)

greetings LAX

ps: I don't wear powered armor all the time either - for example I did most of Fallout New Vegas with the Ranger Armor (the one with the gasmask and the nightvision capability) (movement speed...which is kind of funny as IMHO you should be faster with powered armor (servo-motors!). Just like you should be able to carry more (a lot more!) when wearing power armor!)

One thing to remember about the Deathclaws is that they IGNORE armour with their attacks, so whether you're wearing power armour or a soggy paper bag, their attacks would have the same effectiveness.

I can imagine extra STR in PA, but never AGI. In fact didn't most the PA give you negatives to AGI? You're become a walking tank. That was the main reason I never used it.

The FO4 PA is definitely 'reimagined', so it may be like jumping into a tank as opposed to just more armor to wear.

Well, OPer, I imagine that if you want to punch a deathclaw in the face, you'll need power armor to survive the feat. If you have a powerful enough rifle, I imagine you can still apply directly to the forehead to kill them from afar.

Well for last two games power armors were utterly useless and light armors were way to go. From the demo it's plain as day that PA=no stealth. So it's not like new power armor system is nullifying other play styles. It's slow, costy and upgrading it requires perks/skills.